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Head of Chambers, Anthony Metzer QC, successfully defends libel claim

News

1st Dec 2017

Our head of chambers, Anthony Metzer QC, has successfully defended a libel claim heard in the High Court over 7 days. The judgment, Serafin v Malkiewicz & Ors [2017] EWHC 2992 (QB) (24 November 2017), can be accessed here. Mr Metzer represented the three defendants on a direct access basis.

The Claimant, Mr Serafin, claimed damages and injunctive relief suing for libel and misuse of private information in connection with an article published in October 2015 in the newspaper, Nowy Czas (meaning “new time”), a Polish language newspaper distributed in London. Nowy Czas was described by Mr Justice Jay as “a serious, reflective publication covering issues of interest to the substantial Polish community living in the UK”.

The three defendants to the claim were the editor-in-chief of the newspaper and author of the article in question, an editor of the newspaper and a director. Mr Justice Jay found that this was a case where significant issues arose in relation to the credibility of a number of witnesses on both sides in particular the Claimant who he found was subjected to a “skillful and patient cross-examination over approximately seven hours”. The Judge found that the defences put forward were made out. These included the defence of truth in relation to the majority of the complaints, the defence of honest opinion on one issue and lastly, the defence of public interest which succeeded in relation to the entirety of the words complained of. The Judge also dismissed the claim for misuse of private information.